What can and cannot I use PIP for?

maureen1954

Hi I am in recipt of pip and have been told that I can only use it for cleaning. Is there a definition on what I can and cannot use it for.

maureen1954

I was told this by local social services

steve51

Hi @maureen1954
 Good Afternoon & Welcome it’s great to meet you today.

We have got some info on “pip” below for you:

https://search.scope.org.uk/s/redirect?collection=scope-meta&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scope.org.uk%2Fsupport%2Fdisabled-people%2Fbenefits%2Fpip&index_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scope.org.uk%2Fsupport%2Fdisabled-people%2Fbenefits%2Fpip&auth=OdCmUepX8Eu01lD6Q10Fhg&profile=_default&rank=1&query=Pip


Please please have a good look 👀 at the above info & please let me know if you need any further assistance????

Ami2301

Hi @maureen1954 I have found this discussion about what you can spend PIP on, hope this helps!

CockneyRebel

PIP can be used in any way that you need to use it. PIP is paid to help with the costs of daily living  and or mobility

Sam_Alumni

Hi @maureen1954
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is extra money to help you with everyday life if you’ve an illness, disability or mental health condition. There are no rules on what you can and cannot spend it on.

Tardis

Was this as part of a financial assessment for support?  There are certain expenditures that can be deducted from your income (and PIP standard rate daily living component is counted as income), I suppose cleaning might be one of them?

Yadnad

As has been said, it is for the additional costs that relate to the disability.
However some people just lump it together with the other household monies to pay bills which is OK if those bills are higher because of a disability.
Some see it also as a passport to claim more money if claiming a means tested benefit.

mikehughescq

I think we need to be absolutely clear here. As @Sam_Scope has already said, there are no rules on what you can spend PIP on. Literally none and there never have been for AA, MA or DLA. Politicians claim otherwise. Many others likewise. They are all points scoring or making moral judgements. You can spend it on what the heck you want.

That said, research shows most people use it as an earnings replacement benefit to cover the reduced value of their other benefits.

Tardis

I hope I didn't muddy the waters with my comment.  I just wondered where on earth the misconception could have arisen.  

Topkitten

Generally there aren't any rules about what benefits can and cannot be used for unless they are specifically to help with a specific circumstance. Such things as PIP, DLA and, to some extent, ESA are general benefits whilst UC is a more specific benefit.

I am very surprised by the comment regarding cleaning as this is generally something not covered and not provided for in ANY benefit. Is your Social Worker a trainee by any chance? I found that, depending on department, some Social Workers are not given very good initial training and a new, young Social Worker I was allocated a couple of years ago knew very little about what she was and was not supposed to deal with. Any advice she gave me was pretty much worthless.

TK

mikehughescq

The only benefit where there is any kind of theoretical commitment is Child Benefit. 

Yadnad

mikehughescq said:

The only benefit where there is any kind of theoretical commitment is Child Benefit. 

And of course to pay for a funeral 

mikehughescq

That’s a lump sum payment not a weekly benefit though.